Pic(k) of the month - August 2026: Colour, lines and movement

My August “Pic(k) of the month” was a tricky to select. With ample photo opportunities during the month, both in Bulawayo and during a fieldwork stint in Matobo, I was spoilt for choice. Wild weather mid-month made it feel more like July, but the vegetation and colours in the bush stuck resolutely to their usual pattern.

By month end, splashes of spring colour – reddish rock fig leaves, rusting Dombeya flowers – dotted the landscape. Birdsong changed with the anticipation of nesting and early migrants bolstered checklists. It was still dry, but the teasing increase in insect activity and the toads recolonising the dog’s water bowl hinted at the coming warmth.

My favourite photo of the month is… Exit - stage right

Panning with a shutter speed of 1/15s (so that the vegetation in the background would be very smeary) generated just one image that I was happy with. Panning is tricky; low light panning and getting the right amount of motion blur is a skill that I'll continue working to perfect.

On an evening walk in the Matobo Hills, I encountered two warthogs. They looked at me, muscles tensed (so I knew they would run even if I backed off). In the low light, I made a quick decision to dial back my shutter speed and wait for their inevitable exit. Panning is a skill that I’m working hard to improve, and from the sequence I managed to get just one frame where the head and raised tail of one of the warthogs is reasonably sharp. They disappeared just into the treeline and stopped, so I eased away and left them to their evening routine. This is not a technically perfect photo, but it’s one that almost worked and which reminds me that experimentation and practice pay dividends.

First Runner Up: What’s for breakfast?

I had a fast shutter speed dialled in, which I left, and I allowed the bird and tree to remain underexposed. Slight changes to midtones in post-processing accentuated the colour in the hoopoe's crest.

During a morning photo stroll, this hoopoe landed on a branch near me, a cricket grasped firmly in its beak. It’s breeding season, so I knew there must be a nest nearby. Reluctant to disturb the bird with its offspring’s breakfast, I framed the shot as best I could without moving too much. With strong backlight, I fired off a few shots – deliberately keeping the bird underexposed because I wanted to see if I could have a silhouette with just a hint of colour in the crest and rimlight. The pose is great, the hint of colour in the hoopoe’s crest is just what I was after, and the added shapes from the lichens and bark on the tree provide a bit of interest in an otherwise minimalist scene.

Second Runner Up: Why don’t colours clash in nature?

I wanted to retain the bird in environment feel, and couldn't get much closer without flushing the bird, so I composed as best I could in the field and cropped slightly in post-processing.

A pair of lilac-breasted rollers frequents our neighbourhood in the dry season. They’re quite skittish individuals and getting photos is tricky – mostly because they usually perch quite high and the angle is not very pleasing. A couple of weeks before I got this photo, I saw a roller fly into a Kenya coffee-shade tree (which was just sprouting colourful new leaves). The photos I took then were binned because I somehow managed to miss focus, so the quest was on to get a photo of this colourful bird in a colourful tree. Towards the end of my walk on the last Sunday of August, I spied the roller on a branch, and carefully eased towards it, using another tree as cover, until I got within range. I wanted to frame the bird with the new leaf growth, so kept the composition wide (plus I was at a bit of a distance) and cropped for composition later. It’s bright and breaks all the complementary colour rules but somehow avoids being too garish. (And I really like having a “different” roller photo to the classical roller-on-a-tree-stump or flight shot).

Do you agree with my selection? Would you have chosen differently?

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[Photos (c) The Rambling Zimbo.  Camera body: OM System OM-5 Mk1; Lenses M.Zuiko 75-300 f/4.8-6.7 II and M.Zuiko 12-45 f/4 Pro. Post-processing in DXO PhotoLab 8].